


Twenty

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [4]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fictober, Gen, MEFFictober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 20:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20895830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober prompt: friendly rivalry. Shepard and Kolyat make a friendly wager.





	Twenty

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in the timeline of _The Paths We Are Given,_ Part 4: "All I Ever Wanted," and picks up where Wednesday's Fictober story "Fragile" left off.

They sat in silence for a while, and gradually, Shepard's breathing evened out and her trembling stopped. The way her head rested on his shoulder, Kolyat couldn't see her eyes, and soon began to wonder if she'd fallen asleep.

But when two girls wandered by, shirts soaked, eating fruit and laughing, Shepard straightened suddenly with a delighted gasp. "Oh my God, I'd completely forgotten! I used to love bobbing for apples. Come on, you've got to try this!"

She leapt up and grabbed Kolyat's hand to haul him to his feet, then hobbled off in the direction the girls had come from. Kolyat followed, head spinning from her 180-degree shift in mood, wondering what childish game she was dragging him into now.

Before long, she spied a row of barrels and arrowed toward them, walking more easily than Kolyat had seen since she'd been fitted with her prosthetic leg. As they approached, he could see that the barrels were full of water, with red, yellow, and green apples floating on the surface. Children stood over them, hands clasped behind their backs, and plucked apples from the water with their mouths.

Kolyat frowned. "What's the point of this game?"

"Exactly what it looks like," Shepard said with a grin. "Get an apple without using your hands."

"Sounds simple enough."

"It does, doesn't it?" Shepard nudged him with her elbow and winked. "Bet you twenty credits I get one before you do."

Kolyat drew himself up tall and net her twinkling eyes with his brow ridge raised, considering. It was probably some kind of trick. He really should know better than to bet against Rhiannon Shepard. But his competitive side won out, and he finally said, "You're on."

Shepard laughed in delight, and they took their places beside adjacent barrels. "Ready?"

"To kick your ass? Always," Kolyat quipped.

"Ooh, getting cocky, are we?" She grinned wickedly. "I hope those words taste as good as these apples."

"You'll have to let me know," Kolyat shot back.

"Okay, ready… set… go!"

Shepard plunged her face into the water, snapping at apples with childlike abandon. Kolyat opted to take a more measured approach. He leaned forward slowly, studying the fruits' patterns of movement as the bobbed gently in the water. Then he opened his mouth, set his teeth on an apple's delicate, rosy skin, and bit down.

To his chagrin, the apple shot away from him down into the barrel, only to pop back up again and hit him square on the nose. He inhaled a few drops of water in his surprise, and came up coughing and spluttering. He tried again to much the same result, and again, and again.

After the fifth escapee, Kolyat's back was beginning to ache, and he straightened, frustrated and ready to give up. This was stupid, undignified and clearly impossible. Shepard had made her point, clearly.

But as he looked up, swiping water from his nose and chin, he found himself face-to-face with Police Chief McGann, his boss. She stood there with her arms folded, a look of stern amusement on her face, her two little grandchildren by her side. "You're not quitting, are you, Krios?" she asked.

"I can't do it," he protested. "They're too big. I can't get a grip."

"Never stopped her." McGann nodded toward Shepard, who still hadn't caught anything, either. "When Rhiannon was a teenager, she was the undisputed apple bobbing champion. Somebody needs to put her in her place." She pointed into the barrel. "So you're gonna need to get creative."

Kolyat frowned and studied the apple she'd indicated. It was large and smooth, floating demurely near the edge of the barrel. There was no way he'd ever get his teeth around it.

But on a closer inspection, he could see a little brown stem, almost invisible in the water, just barely sticking out beyond the apple's flesh. He glanced up at McGann, and she winked.

Kolyat bent down again, nudging the apple with his nose until it rolled enough for him to catch the stem in his teeth. He stood up again, grinning triumphantly, and dropped his prize in his hand.

McGann flashed him a thumbs-up before allowing her grandchildren to drag her away.

Kolyat strolled over to where Shepard still chased apples in her own barrel, oblivious to what had just occurred. He stood across from her and waited, munching on his own apple as he did so. It was at once tart and sweet, crisp and juicy, and it tasted like victory.

* * *

When Shepard finally sank her teeth into an apple and stood, crowing wordlessly, the first thing she saw as she wiped the water from her eyes was Kolyat standing across from her, watching, his hands tucked behind his back. At first she thought he'd given up, but then she noticed how hard he was struggling to keep an absolutely shit-eating grin off his face.

"What?" she demanded around the apple still clutched in her teeth.

Kolyat didn't say a word, but instead slowly withdrew one hand to show her an apple core dangling from his fingers by a short stem.

Her jaw dropped open, and she had to catch her apple before it fell back into the barrel. "You little shit," she laughed incredulously. "How?"

He twirled the apple core by the stem and smirked. "Oh, I have my ways," he said.

She stared at him for a moment, and then it finally dawned on her. "That's cheating!"

"Hey, you're the one who's done this before," Kolyat said with a shrug. "You should've told me there were rules."

Shepard drew a breath to protest—and then let it out in a sigh. "Fine. Point taken." She dug in her pockets and pulled out a credit chit. "You win. Ten credits."

"Shepard." Kolyat folded his arms. "Don't try to pull one over on me. You said twenty."

"Damn you and your drell memory," she muttered, chuckling. "How about a rematch? Double or nothing?"


End file.
